County officials get ready for Election Day

HOUSTON - Harris County election officials are bracing for a busy day at the polls Tuesday, but they don't believe there will be any major problems.

After a record turnout during two weeks of early voting, Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart said he has assembled an army of people to work the polls and handle the onslaught of voters on Nov. 6."It should be fine unless they wait until the last two hours to vote, then it could be congested like it was on Friday, the last day of early voting," Stanart said.

There will be 766 polling locations open on Election Day and Stanart predicted 450,000 people will cast their ballots.

Overall, Stanart is predicting a record turnout with combined early voting and Election Day results.

"The last presidential election (in 2008) we had 1,088,000 voters. I'm predicting we're going to exceed 1.2 million, or 1.22 million is my prediction."

Each election judge will be equipped with information and cellphones to reach the county office in case they confront any unexpected problems.

"There shouldn't be as many lines because we have so many voting locations," said Stanart. "The critical thing to know is that you must vote in your polling location on Election Day. You don't have the choice of locations like you do in early voting."

Copyright 2012 by Click2Houston.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.